By Gustavo Buenrostro
The annual exhibit, “New Voices” is showcasing students’ artwork to the public on the ground floor of the Vincent Price Art Museum.
Admission is free for students and the general public.
The student exhibition is an annual fall exhibit with the art submitted during the previous academic year.
Some works of art tell the viewer about human nature, greed and violence.
One of the pieces of art displayed is a painting called “Living Room” created by Deisy Hernandez.
“My photos are mainly about Chicano portraiture and street. It makes me feel good to know my photos won because it assures me that I’m doing something right, you know. I grew up a Chicano, it was around me and I wanted to change people’s perspective of Chicanos as educated and hard working,” said Joaquin Guzman.
Guzman won first place for his photos called “Splendid Tiempos.”
Anthony Martinez won second place for “La Chatara.”
Two third place winners being Christian Arias and Mario Hernandez for “Stereographs/ 3D photos” and “Mesoamerican Pantheon” respectively.
The oil on canvas painting shows a family without any eyes concentrating on a giant eye ball in front of them.
Other inanimate objects have eyes and are looking around.
“The main focus of the painting is the eye. The eye is meant to take away from what you can’t really see. It is my first ever art that was based on something that came completely out of my mind, which is awesome,” said Hernandez.
“Abstraction of Opportunities” created by Steve Ballinger, is oak with plexiglass and LED lights. As the name suggests, it is an abstract sculpture with square frame and lights changing colors.
“State of Currency” has a wire frame with a wooden base covered in papier mache and uses stand printed paper.
It was created by Albert Chavez.
The papier mache is made of fake money and is shaped like the Statue of Liberty.
“There is an open call for students to submit their art. There is a special selection process with the art being sent to a juror to select which art pieces will be chosen to be viewed. The selection is a blind, with the artists’ names being removed so the juror chooses them based on what she see’s. We want the process to be equitable for the students who participate,” VPAM art director Pilar Thompkins Rivas said.
This exhibit is the only one to feature student work and to have this type of selection process.
Selene Preciado was the sole juror of New Voices, which means she chose all the art that is shown at the exhibition.
“My selection was made trying to keep balance of different media and styles to represent all the entries. There were for example many entries on photography and illustration. That is why we ended with more works on those media,” said Preciado.
“I was not familiar with the work or names of any of the artists, so that information would have not altered my selection in any way. Fortunately, I now know their names and will try to follow their careers, particularly (the career)of the people that were awarded the 1-3 prizes and the honorable mentions,” Preciado said.
“New Voices” the 2016 Student Art Exhibition will be open from September 13 to October 22.
